As a seventh-grader playing club soccer, Kyro broke her fibula and tibia after a goalkeeper slide-tackled her on a breakaway. While she scored on the play, she thought her career might be over.

Kyro spent the next several months in a cast up to her hip and then a smaller cast for weeks afterward.

Though it was originally thought she wouldn’t require rehabilitation, when Kyro was finally free of the casts, she quickly realized she needed physical therapy.

“I had a really awkward walk, I didn’t know how to walk normally again,” Kyro said. “I had to re-learn it and strengthen my leg again. It took a couple months to finish all my therapy. I didn’t think I’d end up playing soccer again.”

After therapy, Kyro played in a tournament with her team. There, she discovered how far she had yet to go to return to the level at which she played before the injury.

“It didn’t go well,” Kyro said. “So I was like, ‘OK, I’m not good enough to play soccer again.’

“I didn’t have the speed or strength or the abilities I had anymore. I didn’t feel like I was good enough anymore.”

Kyro’s soccer career appeared over. She didn’t play at all throughout eighth grade and had “barely touched a soccer ball” since her injury.

Despite her time away from the game, friends encouraged her to try out for the Vikings team.

As she practiced for the Vikings, Kyro re-discovered all those abilities she thought were gone and forced Maurer, who prefers freshmen to gain seasoning on junior varsity, to make a decision.

The decision has paid off. Kyro has established herself on varsity as a forward, picking up three goals in 13 games this season. When she found the back of the net for her first goal, against Battle Creek Central, Kyro’s long journey back to the pitch was complete.

“It was a really good feeling,” Kyro said, “knowing that I could do that.”